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Innovation through co-creation in contemporary mining relations: a new paradigm for stakeholder engagement at resource extraction project

Fact Sheet

Reporting

Project information

CC4M

Grant agreement ID: 753272

Status

Ongoing project

Start date

7 August 2017

End date

6 August 2020

Funded under:

H2020-EU.1.3.2.

Overall budget:

€ 276 107,40

EU contribution

€ 276 107,40

Coordinated by:

THE UNIVERSITY COURT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS

United Kingdom

Objective

This research project and training programme explore the contemporary practice and future potential of co-creation models in stakeholder engagement, and seek to define a new paradigm and design a new model for sustainable resource relations in the mining industry. The call will generate cooperation between University of Queensland’s Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, a globally recognised hub of innovation and research excellence into resource relations, and University of St Andrews’ Centre for Pacific Studies, one of Europe’s leading research institutions with focus on the Pacific and, responding to the need for European expertise, will create new sites for European innovation and action in the crucially important context of resource relations. The proposed research project will use an interdisciplinary toolkit of research methods capable of reaching and engaging comprehensively with a wide spectrum of corporate, indigenous and increasingly influential ‘virtual’ stakeholders at mining projects in Papua New Guinea, uniquely mediating the nexus of resource host, industry and academy and moving beyond the dominant paradigm in resource relations. It will disrupt a series of well-established preconceptions about the nature of relations between stakeholders in resource contexts, identify new spaces for industry innovation, and propose new, more responsible and sustainable solutions to stakeholder engagement at mining projects. This project carries real potential to influence corporate and industry policies and actions, contributing to successful agreement making and Sustainable Development outcomes in resource relations.

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CC4M (Innovation through co-creation in contemporary mining relations: a new paradigm for stakeholder engagement at resource extraction project)

This research explores the current practice and future potential of co-creation mechanisms at resource exploration and extraction projects. Co-creation is a term commonly used in business to refer to collaborative development of new value (concepts and solutions) together with stakeholders. In this context, it is used to describe a participatory process through which different groups (the company, host communities and governments) collaborative solve problems and cross-fertilize knowledge assets in the context of mineral exploration and extraction on indigenous lands.

The project takes up the challenge of identifying, investigating and developing the potential for enhanced participatory mechanisms, leading to a more workable, responsive and respectful forms of stakeholder engagement. The aim of the project is to identify new spaces for industry innovation, and propose new solutions to stakeholder engagement at mining projects, contributing to successful agreement making and Sustainable Development outcomes for the projects’ host governments and communities. The research seeks to explore potential for a model of engagement which follows transformability of social forms and social innovation, ensuring that the agreement-making at mining projects is founded on actual stakeholder relations and obligations, within which local people are a crucial, internalised resource.

The research engages with a wide spectrum of corporate, indigenous and state stakeholders at mining projects in Papua New Guinea (PNG). PNG has exerted an instructive and disproportionate influence on the mining industry - the industry's engagement with the notions of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility is often considered to be the direct consequence of the country’s experiences of 'irresponsible' mining projects such as Panguna mine on the island of Bougainville and Ok Tedi mine in the coutry's Star Mountains region. These experiences brought to the fore discussions about stakeholder roles and responsibilities in the resource extraction sector and forced the governments and mining companies to acknowledge local communities as powerful and significant stakeholders of resource extraction projects. The country’s influence on the ways in which the mining industry approaches and acts upon its responsibilities towards host countries and communities persists, making PNG a valuable and informative setting for this research project.

Three detailed ethnographic case studies have been completed for the project thus far, involving site visits, residential periods in company camps and host communities, participant observation, interviews and focus groups with company personnel, members of project affected communities and representatives from different levels of state and regional governance. All participants were invited to give their own accounts of their relations, using their own terms and points of reference; to recount current stakeholder engagement practices; to consider how they are being used, and what could make those practices and, what follows, resource relations more sustainable and more effective. Each site participating in the project received a research report outlining main observations and preliminary research findings. Research data is currently being further analysed and triangulated to capture current practice and identify areas (and participants’ own ideas) for improvement and innovation with the aim of securing best sustainable development outcomes for the local hosts of mineral exploration and extraction projects.

The next step for the project is an industry consultation. While the first phase of the project focused on in-depth ethnographic case studies capturing local processes and perspectives, the second phase will engage directly with broader industry. Mining and exploration companies operating in PNG, as well as key industry bodies, will be invited to take part in a consultation exercise comprised of a survey and a series of interviews exploring corporate and organisational mechanisms related to stakeholder engagement. The consultation will explore industry experiences and examples of best practice, as seen from the business perspective. It will also identify barriers and challenges in relation to stakeholder engagements, as well as factors and leverage points (e.g. within organisational standards and structures) which would make co-creation mechanisms possible and, from the business perspective, feasible in the context of mining projects in PNG.

Expected results will offer insights into what are complex and dynamic contexts and challenges, and propose workable and feasible solutions for enhanced and improved stakeholder engagement, using co-creation mechanisms. To that end, the project carries real potential to influence corporate and industry policies and actions, contributing to successful agreement making and Sustainable Development outcomes in resource relations.